Tax Compromise Is A Lose-Lose Situation For Democrats

December 5, 2010

(ChattahBox Op/Ed) – That Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on tax cuts and budget reduction plans is not news. That they are using political posturing to make their point is even less newsworthy. And as we head into the final days of the year and with a great deal at stake for how the financial blueprint for the country will look and act, what is newsworthy is that whatever compromise they do end up with it will not look and act well enough to make a significant difference for the majority. Let me tell you why.
Democrats want, and rightfully so, to continue to provide tax cut for 95% of Americans in an effort to lessen their burden and provide them an opportunity to keep just a little more of the cash they earn weekly. Even though we have not seen the kind of economic growth we had hoped, the middle class tax cuts have helped with what little economic progress there has been, keeping in mind that middle class folks for the most part aren’t saving that money they are spending it because they have to. I’m pretty sure that Republicans are not really looking to raise taxes on middle class America, but what they are willing to do, and dammed the result, is protect those top two percent of wage earners in this country who actually do have the money to save and live off what they make without it causing pain, for the most part.

As I’ve written in past columns, the Bush era tax cuts set to expire on December 31 would provide a cash infusion of $700 billion immediately to a financial budget that needs the cash. I find it hard to believe, as I’ve seen no where where by eliminating these tax cuts would harm the economy if the top two percent were to lose the cuts. On the other hand there are plenty of studies that show eliminating the tax cuts for Middle America would crush the sluggish economy and further delay job growth.

So along comes talk of a compromise. Hey I’m all for compromise anytime compromise one is needed. This is not one of those times. They Republicans have been using this tax cut issue as if it were their birth right to protect the wealthiest of Americans from paying their fair share of taxes, and I wrote their fair share, not a disproportionate share. Many a wealthy American has gone public with how ridiculous it is how little they pay in taxes (think Warren Buffet). But Republicans plod on telling the same old story that it is the wealthiest Americans that are creating jobs and that the tax cuts they enjoy help to provide jobs. Show me that empirical data please, please, please.

The entire concept of trickle down economics had been disproved many times over and I am not going to waste space here proving it once again, but I will say that the only thing that has ever trickled down to the middle and lower classes in this country smells an awful lot like urine and when you can’t even afford am umbrella that just sucks after awhile.

I don’t buy it for a single second that the Bush tax cuts were necessary then nor are they now. The idea that wealthy Americans know better how to spend their money than anyone else does is offensive and I could easily make the righteous argument that the Middle Class would be better at budgeting because they actually have to do it.

What will happen if no compromise happens between now and the end of the year? Well, it doesn’t matter because there will be some kind of compromise and most Democrats are not going to like it a bit. To appease their base Democrats just have to keep the Middle Class tax cut in place. In order to appease their base, the Republicans have to not only preserve their tax cuts, but they also have to cut spending that provide services, many of them essential to the lower classes, and those policies don’t impact the wealthy. The wealthy have everything to gain and the rest of us have everything to lose.

No compromise will benefit the lower classes, period.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Are you beginning to understand how detrimental Republican rule is? Do you now get why President Obama has to take a stand against the Republicans now or else?

If you answer no to any of those questions you are either ill informed or a Republican, which may be one in the same anyway, and I don’t mean that as an insult, but a fact in point. When the policies that I write about don’t effect you, you have a tendency to ignore them, it’s kind of human nature after all and don’t think the Republican leadership isn’t counting on that as the center of their strategy.

The Republicans just have to look good whereas the Democrats actually have to do good. There’s the challenge.

Tony Trupiano is a former national syndicated progressive radio talk show host, author, and a former candidate for Congress. He is also a nationally recognized media trainer. He can be reached at tony@mediatony.com and can read his Blog at http://www.mediatraining.me

Comments

One Response to “Tax Compromise Is A Lose-Lose Situation For Democrats”

Name: Mark on
December 6th, 2010 10:01 pm

Would Harry Truman have done this? I understand that there always, in the end, has to be a compromise, and that liberals are never, ever going to get all that they want. That’s the nature of politics. The problem is that Obama is not pulling out all the stops to get the most progressive final deal possible. He’s not out there on the stump giving the Republicans heat for their unpopular positions. I think that both Carter and Clinton, moderates though they were on domestic policy, would have fought harder for, and achieved, a more progressive final settlement had they been faced with a situation like this.

Got something to say? **Please Note** - Comments may be edited for clarity or obscenity, and all comments are published at the discretion of ChattahBox.com - Comments are the opinions of the individuals leaving them, and not of ChattahBox.com or its partners. - Please do not spam or submit comments that use copyright materials, hearsay or are based on reports where the supposed fact or quote is not a matter of public knowledge are also not permitted.